And then
there were four. The South Carolina Primary claimed two of the
Republican presidential
hopefuls this past week – Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry – before a single
vote
was cast. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are now running nearly even,
but with
all the charges in the air, who knows if that will last until the votes
are
counted this evening?

Gingrich
surged ahead of Romney 33% to 31% in the final Rasmussen Reports survey
of the
South Carolina Republican Primary race taken Wednesday evening.Two days
earlier, before a strong debate
showing by Gingrich and Sarah Palin’s endorsement of the former House
speaker,
it was Romney by 14 percentage points.

Texas
Congressman Ron Paul ran third on Wednesday with 15% of the vote,
followed by
former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum at 11%. Paul’s support held steady
while
Santorum’s support dropped five points since Monday.At the beginning of the month, after
Santorum’s strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, he ran second to Romney
with
24%. Perry pulled two percent (2%) support Wednesday evening but has
since dropped
out of the race.

Still,
nearly one-in-three primary voters (31%) said they could change their
minds,
and it’s unclear how Perry’s withdrawal, the growing dispute over
Romney’s
taxes or a televised interview Thursday evening with one of Gingrich’s
former
wives might impact the contest.

There’s
been a similar tightening of the national race for the Republican
presidential
nomination with Romney still on top but Gingrich just three points
behind – 30%
to 27%. Santorum, who was running second two weeks ago, has now dropped
to 15%,
and Paul captures 13% support from likely GOP primary voters
nationwide. Perry
was still in the race at that time but earns just four percent (4%).
While
Romney’s support is essentially unchanged, Gingrich’s jumped
dramatically, up
11 points from 16% two weeks ago. This suggests that many voters are
still
looking for an alternative to Romney and currently see Gingrich as that
candidate.

One group
looking for that alternative is the Tea Party. Who are the Tea Party
voters
these days? Among other things we’ve found in our recent data: 59% are
men, 41%
women; 61% are over the age of 50, a bit older than the population at
large,
and they’re more closely affiliated with the GOP than they were when
the
movement first began nearly three years ago.

A generic
Republican candidate continues to lead President Obama in a
hypothetical
Election 2012 matchup as has been the case nearly every week since late
May.
Romney also remains the only named GOP hopeful who runs competitively
against
the president.

Gingrich is
within single digits of Obama – 47% to 38% - in their latest matchup.
Last
week, the president held a similar 46% to 38% lead over Gingrich, but
it was
the first time since early December that the incumbent didn’t post a
double-digit lead over this Republican challenger.

The
president has a 10-point lead over Santorum – 48% to 38% - in their
most recent
face-to-face matchup.

With
several of Romney’s rivals questioning his tenure at the Bain Capital
investment firm, voters are closely divided over whether his business
career is
a plus or a minus, but most Republicans see it as a plus. Additionally,
a
plurality of all voters think Romney would do a better job than Obama
dealing
with the economy.

Americans
still put a lot more faith in the private sector than in government
when it
comes to making the economy work. Seventy percent (70%) of adults think
a free
market economy is better than one managed by the government.

But
Americans give mixed marks to the type of capitalism practiced in this
country.
Just 34% view the U.S. economy as free market capitalism. Thirty-nine
percent
(39%) say the country has a system of crony capitalism in which the
most
successful businesses have a close relationship with influential
government
officials.

As far as
the GOP presidential race is concerned, “where the numbers move as the
campaign
unfolds may depend on whether Romney is seen as free market Mitt or a
crony
capitalist,” Scott Rasmussen explains in his latest syndicated column,
“For
Romney, Will Free Markets or Crony Capitalism Be on Trial?”“To be seen as a defender
of free markets,
the former Massachusetts governor will have to do more than point to
his track
record as a venture capitalist. He will need to challenge the status
quo rather
than defend it.”

Most voters
will continue to rely on either cable or traditional television news to
stay up
with politics this year, but the Internet will provide the election
coverage
for a quarter of the nation.

Republicans
continue to hold a small lead over Democrats on the Generic
Congressional
Ballot as they have virtually every week since June 2009.

More voters
support a candidate who promises to raise taxes only on the rich over
one who
opposes all tax hikes, but roughly half feel tax increases of any kind
would
hurt the nation’s economy.

Concern
that the government will do too much responding to the bad economy has
reached
its highest level in seven months after falling to a three-year low in
December. Most voters (57%) also continue to think one of the things
the
government has already done - bail out banks, auto companies and
insurance
companies - was bad for the country.

The
Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes ended the week just slightly
below
where they were a year ago. Two-out-of-three consumers and investors
believe
the country is currently in a recession.

Belief
among homeowners that home values will increase during the next few
years is
the strongest it has been in a year, as is confidence that their homes
are
worth more than what they still owe. Twenty-one percent (21%) now
believe their
home will be worth more in a year, the highest result measured since
February
2011. Still, 27% say their home will be worth less in a year’s time,
while 51%
expect its value to remain about the same. Forty-five percent (45%)
believe their
home will be worth more in five years, also the highest level of
confidence in
the past year.

Fifty
percent (50%) of Americans think they will be paying higher interest
rates a
year from now. The number of Americans who predict higher interest
rates is up
nine points from December’s recent low of 41% but has mostly run in the
50s
since mid-2009.

The
national Occupy movement is the latest to question the fairness of U.S.
society, but most Americans continue to reject that point of view.
Sixty-one
percent (61%) of voters think U.S. society is generally fair and
decent. Just
29% disagree and think it is basically unfair and discriminatory.

Americans
celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this past Monday and still hold
an
overwhelmingly favorable view of the murdered civil rights hero. But a
plurality also continues to believe the federal holiday honoring King’s
birthday is not good for the racial situation in this country.

Perceptions
of race relations in the United States have grown a bit more negative.
Thirty-three
percent (33%) now believe race relations are getting better, but that’s
down
from 38% last January and the lowest finding in several years.
Thirty-two
percent (32%) think those relations are getting worse, while 29% say
they’re
about the same.